Saturday, June 16, 2007

The 36 hours leading up to 02:00 this morning was a very busy one for me. And the action picks up again on Monday.

It started at 14:00 on Thursday afternoon with Charles' 'party'. He invited me only on Wednesday evening and I wasn't sure it was such a great idea with an exam the following morning for which I had yet to study for. But, I went. It started off with a hike up the mountain - something I haven't done in a long time. The fun started though when we did the all-you-can-eat at Pannarottis. This was bad idea number two when taking the following day into account. I had 13 slices, beating all the rest! Being his party, Charles was supposed to step and take victory, yet he never even came close! :P Oh, and note to anyone wanting to try pasta on a pizza: pasta is not a pizza topping!!!!!

Then I went home and squeezed in about an hour of studying for the following day, after which I had to retire to bed. I woke up early Friday morning, went through to campus and continued the studying there. The exam was one of those that could have gone smoother with a little more studying. But, at least I have Charles to blame if it went worse than I thought.

After the short recovery period and discussion about how it was very much the worst comp sci exam of this round (note the explicit reference to comp sci - very important!), I had a focus group meeting thingy with Chris Parker. His masters is on designing a submit interface for a grid. So, our job was to pick out flaws in his design.

Then it was SACO 2nd round marking time! I got to meet up with my computer studies teacher from school - Max Brock - as he was there helping out with the marking. It was the first time I had actually done 2nd round marking as in the past I have been overseas - see, I travel too much! It was interesting seeing the way some people code. "jannie = piet.toString();" - whoever did that, you're a genius! And if it taught me one thing - don't ever use Delphi for the SACO!! It was sad how many teachers failed to submit the answers correctly, making it impossible for us to mark them in some cases.

The next part was what I was waiting for though. It was my turn to celebrate. It was my party!!! I got a bunch of guys down to the Quarterdeck at Grand West. I love buffets! I arrived a little late, thanks to my mom... When we arrived there were only a few people waiting outside and I was wondering what had happened to the rest, considering we were late. Turns out they were waiting inside all along...duh! Once we had all gathered together, we went to take our table.

The food was pretty good. I still prefer Moyo from last year, but this comes close. As soon as I saw the oysters, I ran to grab a bunch of them. It was Carl's first attempt at an oyster - he claimed he enjoyed it, but I only saw him have one so that makes me wonder. The number of people wanting nothing more than to see me drunk grew throughout the evening. I think I picked the worst spot for that reason, but I stuck it through...at least I didn't see them slip anything in my drink, and if they did I couldn't taste it.

After three dishes I caved in and went for the dessert, which they were evil to position right as you enter the buffet to make you cave early!! Dessert was very good though. Luckily Harry couldn't make it as there was no chocolate mousse though. :( The guys started leaving and then the rest of us went walking around the casino. However, as computer scientists we all understand the odds being against you, so we only watched others lose. :)

It was an awesome party and thanks to all of you who were there. It was an excellent way to end off a hectic 36 hours!! And it all starts again when I leave on Monday for Frankfurt and Zurich. :D